I Guess We'll Just Have To Adjust

Mad Magazine Fold-Ins

2008-04-01T18:45:00.000-04:00

The New York Times has a spectacular interactive Flash feature on Mad Magazine fold-ins. Remember those? I used to love them! They were in the back inside cover of almost every issue of Mad since 1964 and I also remember seeing them in Archie comics. Invented by comic book artist Al Jaffee, the fold-in was an image that you would fold over to reveal a hidden picture. I'm pretty impressed that even the text at the bottom folds over to reveal another statement - I had forgotten about that. According to Wikipedia, fold-ins were Mad Magazine's response to popular fold-out features like the Playboy centerfold.

The Times features 23 original Mad fold-ins dating back to the 1960s. The page allows you to use your mouse to drag and fold the graphic on-screen - far more efficient than having to do it manually, by the way.

The interactive feature is an absolute pleasure to navigate. I have to say I love the way the New York Times has fully embraced and integrated interactivity into the online version of its paper. This is exactly the type of thing newspapers have to do in order to stay useful and relevant. Sorry, blogger's tangent.

Via NotCot.org

Dear Starbucks

2008-03-30T18:48:00.001-04:00

Two parts PR grab, one part gimmick and one part genuine interest in their customers ideas? It's anyone's guess, really. Either way, MyStarbucksIdea.com is Starbucks' Web 2.0 way of harnessing the collective intelligence of its clientèle.

Similar to Should Do This - a site I wrote about a few months ago - MyStarbucksIdea.com is a forum for Starbucks regulars to post their ideas on how Starbucks can improve on anything from products to service to the customer experience as a whole. All ideas can be voted and commented on and they are reviewed by a team of Starbucks "partners" (employees).

Currently the most popular ideas include:

Adopt a frequent customer reward system (punch card, loyalty points, etc.)
Offer free Wi-Fi internet access in all locations
Create separate lines for brewed coffee and for special orders

The Ideas in Action section is Starbucks' way of showing us that they're actually paying attention. So, Collective Mind of the Internet, what say you?

The Duck or the Peanut

2008-03-25T21:30:00.000-04:00

A little while ago I wrote a post about niche blogs. I wish I knew then what I know now. This Peanut Looks Like A Duck is a blog about things that look like ducks. Inspired, presumably, by this very peanut. Behold:

Sound Bites

2008-03-24T19:46:00.000-04:00

Did you know that Franz Ferdinand lead singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos is also an accomplished food critic? Oh, you did, did you?

Well, did you know that he wrote a food column for the Guardian called Soundbites where he reported on his adventures in food while on the road with FF? Yeah, you knew that too. In 2006 he also wrote a book called Sound Bites (get it?) where he...yeah I guess I'm a bit late on this one. Still noteworthy though, right? Ugh.

Mojito Cupcakes

2008-03-19T21:28:00.000-04:00

Rum + lime + mint = mojito.

Mojito + cupcake = mojito cupcake! Obviously.

Via Cupcake Takes The Cake.

Waiting For Garfield

2008-03-19T19:19:00.000-04:00

Garfield Minus Garfield is a tumble blog made up solely of of Garfield comic strips with the Garfield character removed from every frame. The result is a portrait of a sad, lonely Jon Arbuckle and a "comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life."

OK, maybe reading existential commentary into a modified comic strip is overstating it a bit, but after looking a few of these in a row, it does start to take its toll.

I think it's summed up best by a conversation I had with my friend Muriel:

sharelle says:
http: //garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/
muriel says:
oh sweet
i hate garfield
sharelle says:
yeah me too
muriel says:
this is fun
sharelle says:
yeah
muriel says:
yeah
sweet
sharelle says:
god this is depressing
muriel says:
yeah
it always was
not like garfield makes it better
god that comic sucks

You Had Me At Maple-Bacon Lollipop

2008-03-09T18:05:00.001-04:00

So I haven't posted anything for over two months now. That's not to say that I haven't seen anything post-worthy in the last little while, I've just been lazy. So what's the one thing that was interesting enough to rouse me from my blogless slumber? Could it be anything less awesome than Maple-Bacon lollipops? No. It really couldn't.

Lollyphile introduces their miracle of confection with: "Hey guys we made meat candy that's so awesome." That's pretty much exactly something I would say. So basically you're just sitting there sucking on an tasty maple lolly when you happen on a glorious bit of bacon. And not just any bit of bacon either, "sustainable, organic, cured bacon." It's just so...beautiful. Also available in absinthe.

Via NotCot.org

MiniMOO!

2007-12-31T15:46:00.000-05:00

So I ordered a set of 100 minicards from MOO.com a couple of weeks ago and they finally arrived a few days ago. I can't tell you why little pieces of paper with cute pictures on them can elicit extreme levels excitement, but trust me, they can.

If you haven't already heard of MOO, they're a UK-based printing company that allow you to upload your pictures from most large photo aggregation sites (Flickr, Facebook, etc.) and use them to print out greeting cards, post cards, etc. You can also use images by illustrators that have submitted their designs to the site (that's what I did).

Minicards are super cute (and mini) and judging from the Flickr group devoted to these little wonders, they're primarily used as business cards or promo cards or they're mashed up to create super duper collages.

I suppose I should also admit that these unboxing photos were staged. I was so excited to finally get them that I kind of tore into the package. As an afterthought I put everything back together and opened it up all over again for the cameras.

P.S. Happy new year!

Breaking News: Simpsons' Writers Turn To Internet For Ideas

2007-12-17T18:34:00.000-05:00

I watched a new Simpsons episode last night for the first time in a long time. The episode was Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind and towards the end Homer experiences a near-death experience that triggers the old life-flashing-before-your-eyes bit. The sequence was pretty well done and the music soft and tragic. All in all, very entertaining.

They even did a fake YouTube "share/watch again" ending (although it should be "replay").

Immediately after seeing that sequence I went online to see if I could find the clip but to no avail. I also couldn't help shake the feeling that the sequence was vaguely familiar. Leave it to the bloggers to figure it out. The sequence was a parody of photographer Noah Kalina's Everyday video that has gained a certain notoriety online:

I wonder what you're supposed to do with rest of your life once you've been parodied by the Simpsons. Awesome.

Note 1: See Noah's note on the Simpsons parody here. Apparently they used the music without permission.

Update: Looks like the part about using the music without permission was an oversight. The Simpsons people are trying to make it right.

Note 2: According to the YouTube spoof at the end of the parody, Homer is 39 years old. Who's gonna update Wikipedia?

Skelewag Love

2007-12-13T19:00:00.000-05:00

As soon as I saw a little thumbnail of a Skelewag image on NotCot.org, I knew something delightful was lying just a click away. And boy was I right! I love love love these little bits of street art by an artist known only as "Chewie". He (I'm assuming it's a he) is extremely creative in using the urban landscape canvas as part of his art. His Skelewags' style is extremely reminiscent of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride - who doesn't like that?

This is truly one of the neatest things I've seen in a while. Not sure why I'm so excited by these images but they do make me really happy! Unfortunately the official Skelewags site is under construction but you can find more images here and of course with a simple Google Images search. [love!]

Hand Painted

2007-12-13T18:45:00.000-05:00

Not sure about the exact origin of these photographs (who took them and who painted the hands), but they're quite amazing to look at. I wonder if that paint is sweat-proof. Lots more here.

Via NotCot.org.

You Will Never Be This Good At Games

2007-11-29T18:12:00.000-05:00

Coming to you all the way from Too-Much-Time-On-Hands Land (actually Japan, where else?), comes the most skillful Tetris player you have, and likely will ever see. The deftness and agility of mind that this player possesses is absolutely mind-boggling. My eyes alone don't even work as quickly as the combination of his eyes, mind and fingers.

Amazing. Complete flabbergastification.

Thanks Roy!

Update: Connection Made!

2007-11-08T18:12:00.000-05:00

Remember that post from a couple of days ago about the guy who was trying to find a girl he saw on the New York subway? Turns out he found her! And only in a mere four days after putting the site up.

Hooray for modern day love stories!

Updated update: Dream girl has been identified as Camille Hayton. I know you needed to know.

Neverending Good Things

2007-11-07T18:27:00.000-05:00

I absolutely fell in love with this flash site as soon as I saw it. As part of mobile service provider Orange UK's campaign for their new Speak Easy pay-as-you-go plan, the site Good Things Should Never End is a gorgeous interactive "never-ending" page that offers tons of little nuggets to click on and play with. It's really hard to explain.

The idea is you scroll down this rainbow and interact with the various characters you meet along the way, each offering a different activity. The site was created by a London-based company called Poke. One of the most interesting elements is the use of "share" links throughout the site.

Clicking on these links pops up a window with code that enables you to embed that particular element of the site into your blog, share it on your MySpace page or Facebook profile or post it to del.icio.us or StumbleUpon (with one notable omission: Digg). Behold:

More and more, marketers are becoming savvy to grassroots online marketing, particularly with the popularity of widgets taking off in recent months. They seem to be recognizing blogs and social networking sites as virtually free, far-reaching advertising vehicles - not that they didn't realize the potential before, but I feel like they're becoming significantly more creative in terms of how they tap in to that medium. Peak the bloggers' collective interest with a neat and innovative nugget and you could just make morning blogrounds™, reaching Jebus knows how many (surely lots!) of eyeballs.

P.S. I was too lazy to make it all the way to the end of the page (it's really long and takes forever). If anyone has taken the time to do so, please let us know if there's reward at the end!

Mark Verhaagen

2007-11-06T19:13:00.000-05:00

Mark Verhaagen is a Dutch illustrator and animator that creates beautifully surreal characters and scenarios with a varied cast of fuzzy wuzzies, cute robots and bipedal rolly pollies. His work is slightly reminiscent of Jeremy Dower's style, whom I previously blogged about here. His Flickr page is also definitely worth a gander. I'd love to get copies of some of his prints if someone can point me in the right direction.

HEMAnimation

2007-11-06T18:58:00.000-05:00

From what I can tell without speaking Dutch, HEMA is an Ikeaesque department store in the Netherlands. This doesn't really matter to me considering I live in Canada however they do have a neat animation on their online shopping page. And if it's entertaining then it's blogworthy.

Do give it a click and have a look for yourself.

Via Notcot.org.

Missed Connection

2007-11-06T18:44:00.000-05:00

The romantic part of me wants to help illustrator Patrick Moberg find the Girl Of His Dreams. The blogger in me wants to post this cute picture. He saw her on the subway in New York City on November 4th. He made this flyer and set up a website dedicated to his search. It's like Craigslist's Missed Connections (which, by the way, are a perfect read for a rainy Sunday afternoon) with pictures.

Via Sam Reich.

Addendum: This reminds me of an article I read in the New York Times a few years ago called I Saw Her on the L Train. Man I'm a sucker for this stuff.

Booklist

2007-11-06T18:14:00.000-05:00

I read the book If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino about six or seven years ago but there's this one passage in the first chapter that has always stuck with me and I was recently reminded of it by this quote in Crissy's tumblog.

The passage describes a jaunt through a bookstore and lists different categories of books that somehow ring very true (at least to me). I've been meaning to revisit this for a while and, well, here we are:

Books You Haven't Read
Books You Needn't Read
Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading
Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written
Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered
Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First
Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered
Books ditto When They Come Out In Paperback
Books You Can Borrow From Somebody
Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too
Books You've Been Planning Top Read For Ages
Books You've Been Hunting For Years Without Success
Books Dealing With Something You're Working On At The Moment
Books You Want To Own So They'll Be Handy Just In Case
Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer
Books You Need To Go With Other Books On Your Shelves
Books That Fill You With Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified
Books Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time To Reread
Books You've Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It's Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them
New Books Whose Author Or Subject Appeals To You
New Books by Authors Or On Subjects Not New (for you or in general)
New Books By Authors Or On Subjects Completely Unknown (at least to you)

Paint By Light

2007-11-05T19:17:00.000-05:00

I saw an amazingly magical commercial on television a few months ago and was absolutely smitten by it. The animation was unlike anything I'd seen before, slightly imperfect like a flip book but also refreshing in its simplicity. Unfortunately when I finally sat down to blog about it I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the company! I searched everywhere but couldn't find it. So needless to say I was super happy to come across it again recently. The ad was for Sprint as part of their Sprint Ahead campaign. Have a look here:

According to Jamie Kivisto, one of the artists that worked on the project, "all the animation was done with flashlights...there's about 100 frames for every two seconds of footage." The commercial also features the song "Souvenirs" by Architecture In Helsinki (one of my favorite bands).

The stop-motion animation flashlight technique was also used in a couple of other commercials in the Spring Ahead campaign as well as the Sprint Ahead flash website. And if you're super interested in these commercials like I am, have a look at the behind the scenes video as well.

Addendum: Have a look at this Japanese site for more of the same. Via Taylor McKnight.

This Is Your Breakfast

2007-11-05T19:03:00.000-05:00

Photographer John Huck has taken pictures of people and coupled them up with pictures of what they had for breakfast that morning. And then he posted them on his site. That's it! Not sure exactly what part of that is compelling but I did find it engaging enough to click through every one of them so there's got to be something there. Anyone else find this interesting?

Via Kottke.org.

Blue Harvest

2007-10-25T21:12:00.000-04:00

Blue Harvest, the hour-long Family Guy retelling of Star Wars: A New Hope, was apparently the highest rated episode since the show came back on the air in 2005. And rightfully so. This episode was as good as the show was back in seasons two and three when Family Guy was at the height of its comedic deftness.

For some reason I couldn't find the episode's opening crawl text (which is pretty funny) anywhere online so I felt it was my duty as a blogger to jot it down and post it here:

A long time ago, but somehow in the future...

FAMILY
GUY

Episode IV

A NEW HOPE

It is a time of civil war, and renegade paragraphs floating through space.

There's cool space battles, and the bad guy is the good guy's dad, but you don't find that out 'til the next episode.

And the hot chick is really the sister of the good guy, but they don't know it, and they kiss. Which is kind of messed up. I mean, what if they had done it instead of just kissed?

Angelina Jolie kissed her brother. Yeah, she did. You know it, I know it,and her dad knows it. That's why they hardly ever talk anymore. You can run away to Africa, but you can't run away from the truth.

Oh, by the way, here's a tip for you: when this is over, go out and rent the movie "Gia." She's way naked in it, and makes out with another chick and everything. It's awesome. I stumbled across it late night on HBO after I had just got back from hockey, and I almost fainted. But I digest...

Princess Leia was coming back from buying space groceries when this happened...

Yeah. I just did that.

Clearly Creepy

2007-10-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

I'm surprised I haven't heard about this until now. Clear, a subsidiary of Verified Identity Pass, is a service that pre-screens members and gives them line bypass at various designated airport security checkpoints in the United States for about $100 a year. Apparently you fill out an application form and then show up for an in-person interview of sorts where I assume they check you out, and you provide them with two pieces of government ID. Then, they take your picture, your fingerprints and images of your irises. No biggie.

IM Funny

2007-10-25T19:21:00.000-04:00

This is the best idea for a niche blog ever: I'm Blog posts screen shots of user-submitted instant messaging conversations. I just read them all. Hi-larious. The end.

Who Art Thou, Carrie Chau?

2007-10-25T18:56:00.000-04:00

I can't find much information about (not even a dedicated website) but I'm loving me some Carrie Chau. Looks like she's a painter and makes designer toys and she had an exhibit in Hong Kong last week called Black Sheep. Here is the pièce de résistance:

Cute! Here are some pictures of the exhibit on Flickr and a bit more info from the Artoyz blog (en Français).

Ørestad College

2007-10-25T18:42:00.000-04:00

Boy is it good to be a kid in Denmark today. Well Copenhagen anyway. Well I don't know about all the kids in Copenhagen but the ones who attend Ørestad College sure seem to have it good. Opened in Spring of 2007, the high school (yeah, high school) was built to account for a 50% deficiency in "study space" caused by a recent glut in the Danish teenage demographic.

Designed by the Danish architecture firm 3xn, the framework of the building consists of "four boomerang shaped story decks" that "rotate in relation to each other like the shutter of a camera" and the school features various lounge-like study spaces. With particular emphasis placed on open space and light, it seems to me that the structure remains true to progressive Scandinavian design principles of beauty and style within function. Wireless internet access is also widely available throughout the school and laptops are provided for each student.

I don't know about you but my high school looked nothing like this. There were actually no windows in any of the classrooms. In fact I seem to remember some rumor about it being part of a study to see if a lack of windows would reduce distractions and help students to focus in class. Can anyone I went to high school with (that reads my blog) corroborate this story? I mean, it's not impossible that I made that up but I'm pretty sure that someone told me that once. Either way it certainly looked nothing like Ørestad College.

I wonder how the high school experience of someone who attends Ørestad College would vary from that of someone who attended a school with a more traditional (North American or European) structure. Do you think the educational and social experiences would be heightened or somehow improved or positively influenced by this sort of space or would the novelty eventually wear off quickly giving way to the standard ebb and flow of high school life?

Lots of pictures on the 3xn website - certainly worth a click.

Via The Coolhunter.

The Very Rev Hon Maj Gen Col Dr Baroness

2007-10-23T18:59:00.000-04:00

The ridiculously comprehensive list of titles you can select for yourself when registering in the British Airways website:

(click for bigness)

Wow that's politically correct. That said, I now aspire to be a Jonkheer. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Via Tech Bee (via 37 Signals)

This is New York City

2007-10-22T18:51:00.000-04:00

NYC & Company, New York City's official marketing and tourism agency (not to be confused with the New York State Tourism Department of "I [heart] NY" fame, dontcha know) has recently launched a new full scale advertising campaign in a effort to renew interest in the city I didn't really think interest was ever down) both domestically and internationally (the ads will run in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy and Spain as well as Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and San Antonio). Their goal is to "attract 50 million visitors annually by 2015."

The "This is New York City™"campaign designed by UK ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (Best. Name. Ever. I mean, that just screams Harry Potter.), includes print, outdoor, online and television ads. The ads are highly stylized and the TV spots mix live action and animation (reminiscent of the Yellow Submarine style in my opinion) and have a very enjoyable whimsical feel to them (reinforced by the Ella Fitzgerald soundtrack the the muppet cameo).

Here's the New York Times article covering the campaign. Also I've noticed that I've used far too many parentheses in this post (seven including this one, in fact).

Baggu

2007-10-21T17:45:00.000-04:00

As a self-proclaimed plastic bag hater I always try my darndest to avoid the suckers when I go shopping, even if if means stuffing my purse full of groceries (pocket cheese!) or carrying everything by hand. I try to reuse plastic bags by leaving them in my purse but I never remember to put them back in after I've used them and those reusable bags you get at the grocery store are far too bulky. All that to say I'm pretty excited about the Baggu.

These reusable shopping bags are made from extremely tear-resistant rip-stop nylon, they're super light, they can hold up to 25 lbs of weight and they come in a handy dandy little pouch which means I'm likely to have one on me at all times. I just ordered some. And for some reason I think I'm far more excited than I should be for someone who just paid for bags. Waste of money? Maybe, but I think that money could have been wasted on far worse things, right?

Via Notcot.

Scrabulicious

2007-10-19T17:32:00.000-04:00

Here are some moves I tried playing in Scrabulous and was pleasantly surprised to find were actual word. And their definitions.

Cadge [kaj] - verb: 1. To ask, expect, or encourage another person to pay for or provide one's drinks, meals, etc. 2. To beg.

Fohn [feyn] - noun: A warm dry wind coming off the lee slopes of a mountain range, especially off the northern slopes of the Alps.

Frig [frig] - verb: 1. To copulate. 2. To masturbate.

Ju•gum [joo-guhm] - noun: The posterior basal area or lobe in the forewing of certain insects, sometimes serving to couple the forewings and hind wings in flight.

Kip [kip] - noun: 1. The hide of a young or small beast. 2. A bundle or set of such hides. 3. A unit of weight equal to 1000 pounds (453.6 kilograms). 4. A paper money and monetary unit of Laos. 5. A place to sleep; bed.

Squill [skwil] - noun: 1. The bulb of the sea onion, Urginea maritima, of the lily family, cut into thin slices and dried, and used in medicine chiefly as an expectorant. 2. The plant itself. 3. Any related plant of the genus Scilla.

Ze •in [zee-in] - noun: 1. A soft, yellow powder of simple proteins obtained from corn, used chiefly in the manufacture of textile fibers, plastics, and paper coatings. 2. A synthetic fiber produced from this protein.

P.S. Please no "OMG I can't believe you didn't know was a word, you're so stupid!" comments. I've already fessed up to my ignorance, thank you very much.

Stark Sculpture

2007-10-17T20:41:00.000-04:00

I find Jen Stark's paper sculptures quite spellbinding. They are absolutely gorgeous and I can't seem to look away. Definitely much nicer than anything I (or you) have ever made with construction paper.

Via Taylor McKnight.

ETA: According to this article in the October 2007 edition of Wired Magazine, Stark "draws her inspiration from fractals, wormholes, and MRI scans." Also here's her blog.

Tricks Are For Dragons

2007-10-12T20:23:00.000-04:00

The Dancing Girl optical illusion that appeared in the Herald Sun has been making the blogrounds™ lately (see kottke.org and Taylor McKnight). I usually see her turning clockwise which means I use the right side of my brain more, but every once in a while she switches directions on me!

I was showing her off to some coworkers when Roy (hi Roy!) pointed me in the direction of the Dragon Illusion. Download and print off the PDF and “simply cut it out and stick it together, and stand it on a table or window ledge. When you move around, the dragon's head seems to follow you around the room…the dragon gives us the wrong clues, because we misinterpret what its shape is. We assume that the nose of the dragon is pointing out towards us, but in fact the dragon's head is concave.”

The illusion is difficult to describe but this video captures it perfectly:

Roy even made one for me. I named him Norman. Thanks Roy!

Think Different

2007-10-12T19:49:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across the the Wikipedia entry for Apple's late 90s Think Different ad campaign today and I thought I'd share it with you. The campaign was commissioned by Steve Jobs after his return to Apple in 1997 and was created by the ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.

The ads, print and television, never actually showed any Apple product but instead featured black and white images and footage of the following historically significant people:

The television spots also featured the following text written by a TBWA\Chiat\Day copy writer:

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.

I feel like this commercial is a perfect example of how well advertising can reach a consumer. The black and white images, the quiet, evocative music, the footage of significant individuals and the simple and poignant voice-over (narrated by Richard Dreyfus) all work in tandem to move the viewer. Well, it worked for me at least. Gave me goosebumps.

Super Doom 2007

2007-10-12T19:26:00.000-04:00

This

can't be

legal.

Groomers and their poor doggy subjects at Super Groom 2007. I mean, I'm not a member of PETA or anything but I find this really disturbing. Thoughts?

"lITERALLY"

2007-10-11T19:19:00.000-04:00

When I tell people I have a blog and they ask me what it’s about I usually come up with something like “I kind of post about all the neat and awesome stuff I find on the internet. Especially if it has pretty pictures.” Needless to say I don’t really have a terse and concise way of describing exactly what it is I blog about. This however is certainly not the case for the next few blogs I want to tell you about. These are extremely niche blogs whose writers have an almost rabid, rather remarkable obsession with their specific subject (more like pet peeves than subjects, really), rarely, if ever, shifting their focus. They all deal with some sort of linguistic faux pas (be it punctuation, capitalization or misuse), instances of which they systematically catalogue and ridicule. My kind of people! Let’s have an in depth look:

Blog: The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
Tagline: Making fun of bad punctuation since 2005
Blogger: “Bethany”
Examples:

Home made “soup”
Danger, “men working” above
This is America, when ordering we "speak English"

Blog: lowercase L
Tagline: Ever notice hand-written signs with letters in all-caps, except for the letter L? It looks like an uppercase i ... WHY DO PEOPlE WRITE lIKE THIS?
Blogger: William Levin
Examples:

PlEASE ClOSE THE DOOR.
FREE DElIVERY.
THE PHARMACY IS OUT OF PlAN B.

Blog: Literally, A Web Log
Tagline: An English language grammar blog tracking abuse of the word “literally”
Blogger: Fitz
Examples:

"…and they thought we were literally two peas in a pod."
"It’s literally raining cats in the Puget Sound area, as local shelters are overrun with felines."
"Villanova basketball star Allan Ray had his eyeball literally poked out of its socket by an opposing player in a recent game."

THOSE BlOGS ARE lITERALLY THE MOST “AWESOME” THINGS I HAVE “EVER” SEEN.

Threadful

2007-10-10T23:02:00.000-04:00

I just purchased this Threadless t-shirt. It's called Away From Home. It does not contain any potty humour. It glows in the dark. I love it.

Justice Jimmy

2007-10-10T22:09:00.000-04:00

Anyone else catch Justice "performing" on Jimmy Kimmel last night? I use the term lightly because they really just played an mp3 of the track off their laptop. Really they didn't even need to be there looking all bored and French and stuff.

It would be pretty awesome if the whole world (and by "whole world" I mean "everyone who watched Jimmy Kimmel last night and doesn't really know/care who Justice is") now thinks that Justice is a lame lip syncing band made up of Michael, Rod, Rick, Stevie and Prince look-alikes.

Everything I Want In a Widget

2007-10-10T21:44:00.000-04:00

Hello dear readers. I have a blog design dilemma that has been plaguing me as of late (oh the life of a blogger), and I thought I'd consult you since you're the ones for which I am writing. And you're also the ones that ultimately have to stare at the page. As you all know (obvs), widgets are all the rage in bloggerland. So I have recently added a widgetized version of the RSS feed of my tumblog in the sidebar of this blog (whoa that was some major geeking out on my part, sorry). Anyway you can see it right there --->

I have two options for the widget but I can't decide which I like best. There's the one from SpringWidgets (left) which looks pretty good and allows me set the length parameter (which I like to be long). Problem is it doesn't automatically resize the pictures so they look all gigantor like.

The one from Widgetbox (right) automatically resizes the pictures and has the slick iPhone-like scroll but doesn't look as nice and doesn't let me select the length (which is pretty short).

So now that I have displayed my geekiness to the maximus, please let me know which you like better (and why) or better yet, let me know where I can get a widget that gives me everything I want.

P.S. I'm so sure that not one person will read this post in its entirety. In fact I'm pretty sure I lost most people at "widgets". Or maybe "Hello".

Kanye Kan

2007-10-10T21:16:00.000-04:00

First Kanye's house now Kanye's blog. Oh yeah he's got a blog just like you and me. Well, me at least. And also like you and me he posts things like pictures of himself with other celebrities at fashion shows in Paris, shout outs to Daft Punk, videos of himself free styling with Mos Def (sorry Kanye but Mos Def is mos def better than you), super expensive tech toys he buys for himself and interview with himself from various publications. So he pretty much just reads my blog and copies it. Actually I find his posts about himself rather endearing. Somehow I detect an undertone of childlike wonder at his own celebrity status. Not sure why but there's definitely "look at me, ma!" quality about his posts.

And when he's not busy writing about his awesome hip hop self, his main interests seem to lie in fashion, design and Japanese pop art. He also likes to back up his notoriously eclectic music interests by posting videos by Feist, Mark Ronson and Bat For Lashes (!!!). And then there's this gem:

God bless you Kanye.

YouTube Revived The Video Star

2007-09-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I forget how fantastic music videos can be but more and more I'm finding that they are the perfect little nugget of entertainment for my YouTube-sized attention span. I've also noticed that artists (or the directors) are exhibiting far more creativity in the medium than before. I'm definitely seeing a lot less of the standard band set up playing for the camera and a lot more storytelling and visual effects. Now that I think about it however, creative music videos probably aren't a new development but more a function of the wider availability of a broader selection of videos. Now that YouTube has effectively rendered MTV even more obsolete than it already was, nearly everything you can imagine is available on-demand. Then again, the neat-o factor that I'm trying to describe could also just be a characteristic specific to certain genres of music. I'm sure the Nickelbacks of the world still have the dullest videos you could imagine.

Anyway, all this blah blah blah is just because I happened to spend the last 45 minutes watching music video and I found some pretty neat ones that I wanted to post. I suppose I could have done just that without all the preamble but I'm not about to go back and delete it all now!

D.A.N.C.E. by Justice

Daft Punk Is Playing At My House by LCD Soundsystem

Boy From School by Hot Chip (you have to watch this one all the way through to the end for the full effect)

Montreal -40°C by Malajube.

Thoughts? Anything else I should be watching? Please share!

Jeremy Dower

2007-09-25T19:39:00.000-04:00

Jeremy Dower's artwork had a fantastic glossy three-dimensional property that makes his little characters (astropuppets and robonerds, dontcha know) jump right off the screen. Actually his work looks more like photographs of designer vinyl toys than illustrations. Let's have a look at the creatures of his imagination:

Via Drawn.

Simpsons At The Movies

2007-09-24T22:34:00.000-04:00

Accordion Guy did some pretty nice blog sleuthing by digging up stills from all (or most) of the Simpsons episodes that spoof movies and comparing them to their original cinematic counterparts.

He has also taken it upon himself to explore more in depth Simpsons-to-film comparisons, including: Citizen Kane, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Via Boingboing.

Park Planters

2007-09-16T23:17:00.000-04:00

I saw Science & Sons' booth at an arts fair in Toronto this summer and meant to blog about them but of course I totally forgot. But thankfully for all of you I just came across their work again in a post on Ozoux. Their Park Planters are made out of white glazed ceramic, depicting various, often lewd, "urban park scenes" including flashers and fellatio. For seriously. These tiny scenes make the plants look like large trees by comparison. Dirty dirty trees.

Via Ozoux.

My Other Trucker Hat Is Funny

2007-09-16T22:07:00.000-04:00

Do you watch 30 Rock? If not, you should stop reading my blog right away, get your hands on season one and watch all 21 episodes back-to-back and then come back to reading my blog. If you do then you may proceed with this blog post. In every episode 30 Rock, Judah Friedlander's character Frank Rossitano wears these awful looking Ashton Kutcher-style trucker hats with random nonsensical statements apparently made up by Friedlander himself. Of course I took it upon myself to compile a list of all of Frank's trucker hat phrases from season one.

Here is that list:

Ninja Expert
Done Deal
Extra Sausage
Joystick Master
Double Cheese
Arcade Champ
Bigfoot Expert
Hand Held
Over Easy
ESP Tutor
Kung Fu Beech
RODS
Karate Sluts
Beef 'N Bean
Smells
Extra Cheese
1,000,000 Points
UFO Cop
Squeeze It
Cool As Ice
Time Travel Agent
Liz Rocks
Mash Potatoes
Beef Ravioli
Atomic Super Kick
Mystery Solver
Bahama Trapezoid
Alabama Legsweep
Force Field
Alien Knight Force

What would you do without me?

Just What The Doctor Ordered

2007-09-15T15:57:00.000-04:00

Is it bad to buy things just to make yourself feel better when life gets you down?

Oh well. I'm wearing them now. They're not even plugged in to anything. I love them. And I feel a little better.

One For The Bookmarks

2007-09-14T18:56:00.000-04:00

I've stumbled on to the webcomic xkcd many times before and have always had a laugh but for some reason never thought to read it regularly. I recently landed there again having followed a link from Kara's blog and this time I took the time to poke around (and by "poke around" I mean repeatedly clicking the "random" button). And the dude is funny...as many people have already discovered. "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language," xkcd is created by Randall Muroe, former roboticist for NASA. He now writes xkcd full time supporting himself on the sales of his webcomic merchandise on his online store. Man this guy is seriously multi-talented. Also check out the Life Imitates xkcd section in the Wikipedia entry for a list of instances where people have actually carried out some of Munroe's comics in real life. He's that good.

Via Just Happy to be Here.

Uh Oh LocoRoco

2007-09-13T18:14:00.000-04:00

Move over Ninja Town, there's a new game in, uh, town. In a valiant effort to supplant the Nintendo DS as the undisputed reigning king of unbearably cute casual hand-held video gaming consoles, Sony came out with LocoRoco for the PSP in 2006 and are taking another stab at it this year with LocoRoco Cocoreccho.

The plot - which, as we all know, is integral part of cute, colourful Japanese video games - revolves around the LocoRoco, a peaceful, fun-loving, group of hippiesque rolly-polly blobs made of a jello-like consistency. Think Barbapapa meets a bag of Skittles. So anyway these globulous goobers are all Greenpeace, making sure everything is right with Mother Earth and tending to nature etc. until these bastard Moja Troops (invaders from outer space, dontcha know) swoop down from the heavens for some vague reason that isn't well defined in the Wikipedia entry about LocoRoco that I am currently paraphrasing (someone should really elaborate on that party of the entry). So anyway, mad cute video gaming hilarity surely ensues.

So the LocoRoco roll and tumble their way through the world, presumably in an attempt to save it, and meet a whole bunch of wacky characters along the way (see detailed character chart above). And of course, as is the standard nowadays, I've got a trailer for the game displaying the LocoRoco in all their shapeless glory. Be prepared to be amazed and astounded. Your eyes will go wide, your mouth will go whoa and your brain will go "I want that" as you cast your gaze upon the candy-coated beauty of LocoRoco. Behold:

Great. Now I have to get this game. And a PSP. Le sigh.

Via Notcot.org.

Kanye's Krib

2007-09-06T18:46:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how much thought you've given to what the inside of Kanye West's Los Angeles home looks like, actually I'm pretty sure the answers is none. And if you have then 1. that's weird, and 2. you're probably wrong. I mean chances are you didn't come up with this: Andy Warhol? The Jetsons? Giant creepy plush happy face flowers? Yes, yes and definitely. Read the Interior Design article or just skip the words and go right to the slide show.

Via Fimoculous.

The Business of Cards

2007-09-06T18:23:00.000-04:00

I bet your business card sucks. Now I don't mean to be rude or anything, and really, chances are I've never even seen your business card but seriously, take it out of your wallet and have a look. I'm right, aren't I? It's pretty dull. Don't worry, mine is too. Now these people on the other hand have got some pretty nifty looking cards. If I were them I'd be standing on the street corner giving out my business cards to people as they walked by just to show off. Wouldn't you? No? There are about 400,000 neat business cards in this Flickr Group, so I didn't get to go through all of them. But you should.

Blog post idea pillaged/pilfered/plundered from Tutorial Blog via GeekLikeMe.

Mr. Potato Who?

2007-08-29T19:36:00.000-04:00

So I’ve noticed a rash of new Mr. Potato Head dolls lately (and by "rash" I mean "two") and I thought I’d look in to it. Here are the results of my exhaustive research:

Darth Tater

Optimash Prime

Artoo-Potatoo

Spider Spud

As a result of this self-imposed research assignment, I have come up with two professional suggestions for Hasbro, makers of Mr. Potato Head:

1. Continue with lame-but-funny potato-related doll names. They amuse me.
2. Expand Mr. Potato Head brand to include the following characters:

Cartman
Stewie
Dalek (but only two, one for Crissy and one for Adam)
Napoleon Dynamite
Harry Potter
Paula Abdul

Unlucky Charms

2007-08-29T19:09:00.000-04:00

OK so I 'm pretty sure I want to get the t-shirt Marshmallow Factory from Threadless but I'm a little hung up on the gross factor. As my brother said, "poo is not for eating." No truer words have ever been spoken, however there is no denying the awesomeness of this shirt. I mean, look how constipated that unicorn looks. Or maybe he's just really disturbed that those whatever-the-hells are eating his poop. And look at how happy those whatever-the-hells are! I mean, that's sheer ecstasy right there. That's it, I'm getting it. Thank you for helping me work that out.

Won't You Take Me To Ninjatown?

2007-08-29T18:43:00.000-04:00

From the people who brought you Shawnimals, those little nondescript designer plush toys, comes Ninjatown. A spinoff off the Wee Ninja Shawnimal character, Ninjatown, is, well, I actually have no idea what it is. From what I gather it’s a bunch of cute little ninjas living in a town:

Ninjatown is similar to any small town or village, with corner stores, parks, and houses, except with a few key differences. First, by and large everyone in Ninjatown is a ninja, each with a unique set of skills. Second, there are only a few types of structures: A ninja hut, a training dojo and a Stealthscraper where Business Ninjas and Ninja Consultants work.

Characters include Anti-Ninja, White Ninja, Ninja Dropping (“just when you thought it was safe to walk around in Ninjatown barefoot, Ninja Dropping appears out of nowhere and makes you very unhappy”) and Ninja Consultant (“he’ll show you ways to make your business process more efficient by using side steps, smoke bombs and stealth hugs”), amongst others.

And as if that weren’t enough, Ninjatown will soon be a videogame for the Nintendo DS! Woo! Here’s the trailer:

AMG. I feel like someone just pummeled me with a cute stick. I wants it. And the music is pretty awesome too.

Via Notcot.com.

Shoud Have Done This

2007-08-24T17:49:00.000-04:00

This is one of those great ideas that makes me wish I had thought of it first. Like YouTube. Or Facebook. Or, uh, Google. Well maybe not quite like that, but a great idea nonetheless. But alas I’m nothing more than a lowly blogger. I don’t come up with great ideas, I just write about them. From the fine people over at Robot Co-op who brought you 43 Things, 43 Places and 43 People comes Should Do This, a site where anyone can offer a suggestion on how to improve, well, anything. From products to services to websites to people, you name it. You can browse and search posted suggestions and choose to agree or disagree with them. Some of the suggestions are good ideas and would probably be useful. Others are just funny. Here are some interesting ones I’ve come across:

Apple should add internet radio to Apple TV
Peter Jackson should direct Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
My Bloody Valentine should reunite
Everyone should use the services of a public library
Picasa should allow uploads to Flickr
Dunder Mifflin should make better paper

Via Fimoculous.

I Guess I'm Just Adjusting

2007-08-22T19:21:00.000-04:00

You know, that last post got me thinking. When I first started this blog over two years ago I really struggled to find a good title for it. I eventually settled on I Guess We’ll Just Have To Adjust mostly because it’s a lyric from the Arcade Fire song Wake Up that I had been listening to pretty much non-stop at the time. And I couldn’t come up with anything better. But I didn’t really think it would stick. I just chose it because I needed something right away but I felt like it was too long and difficult to remember and it didn’t roll off the tongue as nicely as I would have liked. I never changed the name because a) I couldn’t come up with anything else, b) people started to get used to it and, most importantly (and here’s the point of this seemingly irrelevant post), c) the name started to make sense (at least to me) in terms of the things I was writing about. What the eff am I talking about? Well we live in a strange world and in writing this blog I’ve realized that people do a lot of weird things but that might just be their way of coping or dealing with – or adjusting to, if you will – this wacky place we live in. I think that all the weird things I blog about are just methods people seem to have developed for themselves to help them get by. Some people read self-help books, others make miniature motorcycles out of watch parts. Some fall into the depths of addiction, others make pretty creatures out of bendy straws. Me, I write this here blog you’re reading. I guess that’s just how we have to adjust.

Pulp Photo

2007-08-22T18:44:00.000-04:00

Thomas Allen is a photographer with a wacky knack for cutting up, folding and positioning the covers of vintage paperbacks to create these really neat, mini self-contained pulp fiction scenes. And then he takes pictures of them. And then he exhibited those pictures at the Foley Gallery. And then he got a book deal, put all his photographs together and came out with Uncovered. So crazy! I live (and blog) for this kind of thing. Wee!

Via Notcot.org.

I Guess We'll Just Have To Tumble

2007-08-17T18:14:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when I post on my blog I find that the link or picture or subject I’m writing about does not warrant any kind of elaborate editorial commentary. Sometimes it’s self-explanatory. Sometimes it’s really simple. And sometimes it just is what it is. So for the past few days I’ve been toying around with the idea of a tumblelog (or tumble blog) which is kind of like, as veteran tumblelogger Jason Kottke put it, “a quick and dirty stream of consciousness”, or an ongoing collection of the miscellaneous bits and blasts that I come by in my everyday online meanderings. So I made my way over to Tumblr, a pretty little tumblelog application with an easy to use and clean-looking UI. The application supports a number of categories of posts like text, photos, videos, links, IM conversations and quotes. I'm really liking the haphazard, random qualities of this kind of blog. So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to I Guess We’ll Just Have to Tumble. What will you find there? Well it's still in its infancy but I gather it'll be things like movie trailers, interesting Wikipedia entries, funny Urban Dictionary definitions, some quotes, miscellaneous links, that sort of thing. If I’m too lazy to post it here, I’ll post it there. I hope you make your way over there cause I'm really interested to hear what you think.

Minimoto

2007-08-14T18:47:00.000-04:00

Jose Geraldo Reis Pfau uses old watch parts to make mini motorcycle figurines. And really, can you blame him?

Via OKfuture .

Ad It Again

2007-08-14T18:21:00.000-04:00

About a year ago a wrote a few posts (here, here and here) about a new breed of advertising that integrates and often plays off of its environment (which I now realize is called “outdoor ambient advertising - I'm a smart girl). I thought I’d revisit the idea after seeing a bunch of new ads on Amazing Illusions. Now it’s not that I particularly enjoy seeing ads covering everything but I just want to acknowledge that some of them are pretty clever, so don’t go getting all anti-consumerism on my ass, mmkay? Thanks.

Shopping bags with ads by Stop ‘n Grow.

Towels as a marketing tool for Axe Bodyspray.

Ads for Mondo Pasta on ships in Hamberg, Germany.

Nationwide Insurance x-treme! billboard (via Billboardom).

Bloggermelon Steak

2007-08-12T16:03:00.000-04:00

So looks like watermelon steak is all the rage amongst bloggers these days. Pan seared with salt and pepper seasoning according to this recipe that ran in the Boston Globe. Not really sure how tasty it would be but, like any good blogger, if it sounds funny and it's accompanied by a pretty picture, I'll post about it here!

I Love You, Whaleboy

2007-08-10T18:27:00.000-04:00

So a couple of days ago I was walking on Bloor St. in the Annex past what used to be Second Spin (RIP) and what is now, to my pleasant surprise, The Labyrinth, a great little shop chock full of graphic novels, anime, illustration books, artist sketch books and tons of other great stuff.

I was lucky enough to chat with Jessica - she and her husband have been specializing in this business for over 19 years traveling to schools and trade shows until they finally opened their first storefront a few months ago. Check out their blog for lots of updates on upcoming releases and special events. The store is super fun to browse through and they take special pride in showcasing the work of local (Toronto) artists. I myself picked up this fantastic print of Whaleboy by Toronto artist Bobby Chiu (which is actually Bobby's take on a character by LA artist Patrick Morgan).

Isn't he cute? I just could resist his little face! Next I might go back for some work by Deanna Marsigliese:

So if you're in the neighborhood be sure to drop by and say hello to Jessica (and her cute little baby).

Distracting Distraction

2007-08-07T21:13:00.000-04:00

The Distraction Game is pretty awesome.

What? You wanted a novel about it?

Via The In-Sect.

Tasteful Flashers

2007-08-07T20:39:00.000-04:00

The nice people over at Web Designer Wall have taken the time to scour the internet to bring you 30 of the most brilliant Flash sites they could find. And now I've taken the time to scour that one blog post and look at those thirty sites to bring you the cream of the crop. Us bloggers, we do all the thinking for you, see? All you gotta do is sit back and look at the pretty pictures.

Formshape
Róth Anikó

Own Your C

Via Web Designer Wall via Tech Bee.

Le Daft Punked

2007-08-07T19:53:00.000-04:00

So I went to a Daft Punk show on Sunday night and they totally kicked my ass. By far one of the best concerts I've ever been to. A huge part of what made it so good was the extravagant light show they put on. This was unlike anything I'd ever seen before: requisite strobe and spot lights, twenty-foot tall (that's my very rough estimate) illuminated latticework, and a huge pyramid composed of four LCD screens from inside which Les Punks worked their magic decked out in full robot regalia. Totally sweet. Plenty of video and pictures from the tour available online but I wanted to share my very own (low-quality camera-phone) pictures with all of you.

Only Three Words

2007-08-02T18:23:00.000-04:00

Memes are lame. Here's a meme:

1. Where is your cell phone? Next to me.
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend? Likes robot music.
3. Your hair? Very badly behaved.
4. Where is your father? Close to mother.
5. Your favorite thing to do? Contingent on mood.
6. Your dream last night? Vague, incomprehensible mess.
7. Your dream car? I don’t care.
8. The room you're in? There’s only one.
9. Who did you hang out with last night? Robot music lover.
10. Your fears? An unhappy future.
11. What aren’t you good at? Peeling apples properly. OR Life in general.
12. Muffins? I prefer doughnuts.
13. One of your wish list items? Weeds: Season Two.
14. The last thing you did? Answered number 13.
15. Your computer? Thank you brother.
16. Your pet? Cutest imaginary puppy.
17. You are wearing? Heart on sleeve.
18. Your life? State of flux.
19. Your mood? OMG! WTF? LOL!
20. Missing? Plan for future.
21. Your car? Subway, streetcar, bus.
22. What are you thinking about now? What's for dinner?
23. Your work? Aspiring professional blogger.
24. Your summer? Filled with newness.
25. Your relationship status? Smells like vanilla.
26. Your favorite color(s)? Deep sea turquoise.
27. When is the last time you cried? On the train.
28. When was the last time you laughed? Too long ago.
29. School? Out for summer.
30. Favorite 90’s group? Color Me Badd

See? Wasn't that fun? OK now you. Off you go...

If My Blog Looked This Good...

2007-08-01T18:25:00.000-04:00

Not only does artist/illustrator/musician Aaron Jasinski create some good tunes and some refreshingly lovely, playful and surreal paintings (describing visual art has never been my strong suit but I love love love his work), but he also has a clean, creative and extremely well-designed website to showcase all his work. The menus are beautifully designed and the animation looks smooth and effortless. Makes you want to click-clickety-click everywhere!

Via Fubiz.

Not Your Average Philharmonic Orchestra Ad Campaign

2007-07-31T21:37:00.000-04:00

Check out these wacky ads for Konzerthaus Dortmund, a philharmonic orchestra in Dortmund, Germany.

You don't really need any commentary here, do you?

Via I Believe in Advertising.

Urkel Matters

2007-07-30T19:31:00.000-04:00

Inspired by my last post, here are some things you didn’t know about Steve Urquel or did know but had forgotten and of which you are now happy to be reminded:

His father was a brain surgeon
Urkel makes a guest appearance on an episode of Full House to help Stephanie “How rude!” Tanner deal with having to get glasses
Steve periodically transformed himself into his suave alter ego Stefan Urquelle by using a Transformation Chamber that he created. This chamber runs on “a liquid known as ‘Boss Sauce’ (a combination of the original liquid, ‘Cool Juice’, plus a booster liquid)”
Steve eventually created a cloning machine to create a permanent clone of Stefan Urquelle
Lyrics to the accompanying song for “The Urkel Dance”: “If you want to do the Steve Urkel dance, all you have to do is hitch up your pants, bend your knees, and stick out your pelvis; I'm telling you, baby, it's better than Elvis!”
Somebody somewhere might still have a copy of “The Urkel Dance” cassette single
Cartman has a sleeping bag with a picture of Steve Urkel on it
By the last season of Family Matters, Jaleel White, the actor who portrayed Urkel, was getting paid $100,000 per episode
For a brief time during the run of Family Matters, you could start your morning with a breakfast cereal called "Urkel-Os" featuring Steve on the box

And now let's have a look at Jameel White today:

I've got nothing.

Timothy McPretty Funny Lists

2007-07-30T19:13:00.000-04:00

If you don’t already Timothy McSweeney’s Lists then you’re pretty lame. No, just kidding, I don’t even know you. But seriously, you should be reading Timothy McSweeney’s Lists.

Here’s one to whet your appetite:

See? Funny, right? Right.

This Is About A Site About Crates & Barrels In Videogames

2007-07-30T18:59:00.000-04:00

Crates & Barrels is a site that catalogs screencaps of crates and barrels in videogames. That’s pretty much all it does. Dozens of videogame crates:

and barrels:

just sitting there, waiting for your gaze to be cast upon them. Seconds, nay minutes of perusing pleasure at your fingertips. The best part, however, is neither crate nor barrel. No. It’s the site’s description on the homepage: “This is about crates and barrels in videogames.” Indeed.

Fruitimathics

2007-07-30T18:45:00.000-04:00

So I had a pluot last night, which is a plum-apricot hybrid fruit. It was tasty, thanks for asking. And so it got me thinking, as any true blogger would: “my blog is long overdue for a post on hybrid fruit.” So, without further ado, here’s, uh, a list of hybrid fruit:

Blackberry + Raspberry = Kotata berry/Loganberry/Tayberry
Blackberry + Dewberry = Youngberry
Loganberry (= Blackberry + Raspberry) + Dewberry = Boysenberry
Loganberry (= Blackberry + Raspberry) + Youngberry (= Blackberry + Dewberry) = Olallieberry
Peach + Apricot + Plum = Peacotum™ (seriously)
Apricot + Plum = Plumcot

Apricot (1/4) + Plum (3/4) = Pluot™
Apricot (3/4) + Plum (1/4) = Aprium™

I should also tell you about Zaiger Genetics, "a Family Organized to Improve Fruit Worldwide" that has "achieved global prominence for their robust fruit and rootstock breeding program." They hold the trademark for pluots, apriums and peacotums, amongst others.

I sure am glad we had this little chat, aren’t you? What's that you say? Worst post ever? Sigh.

Pickles Do It Better

2007-07-26T20:18:00.000-04:00

Dear nice people who work at Pickle Sickle,

I love pickles. I love popsicles too. Ergo I will surely love, love your pickle juice popsicles. Please send me a lifetime supply of Pickle Sickles so that I can tell the world how wonderful they truly are.

With love,

Sharelle

P.S. If they are made from bread and butter pickle juice then don’t bother.

Via Junk Food Blog.

You Are Wasteful

2007-07-26T19:59:00.000-04:00

Running the Numbers is a great photo series feature in The Morning News by photographer-cum-anti-mass-consumption-activist Chris Jordan. Jordan attempts to capture the reality of American mass consumption by creating visual expressions of statistics. He hopes that seeing the cumulative effect of each individual’s actions will shock people out of complacency. So I’m doing my part by passing on the message. What are you doing about it, huh? Huh?

Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the U.S. every 30 seconds.

Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the U.S. every five seconds.

Via BoingBoing.

Musicovery

2007-07-26T19:41:00.000-04:00

Musicovery is a pretty little webradio application that allows users to select the music they would like to listen to based on various parameters. Click a point in the “matrix” of the calm/energetic and dark/positive axes to determine the mood of the music you want to listen to. Also select by genre, decade and popularity. A click in the neighborhood of “calm” and “positive” within the “electro” genre spawned a pretty little organic blossom of…wait for it…calm and positive electronic music such as Air, Björk, Thievery Corporation and Massive Attack.

Ever since Pandora ran into “licensing constraints” and stopped offering their service to users outside of the United States, I’ve been looking for a new web-based radio app to play with. I think I just found it! What think ye?

Thanks Jamie!

Not A Dirty Pun

2007-07-26T19:02:00.000-04:00

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged regularly that I seem to have forgotten all about the simple pleasures that the internet has to offer and that I in turn offer to you. Like this collection of photographs of wet cats lookin all silly as wet cats tend to do.

Let’s have a laugh or two at their expense, shall we?

Silly cats.

Via Geisha Asobi.

Call It Like You See It

2007-07-23T19:28:00.000-04:00

Tessa Farmer makes little itsy bitsy sculptures out of dead insects and other organic material and calls it art.

I call it ew.

Via Geisha Asobi.

Cult Fiction

2007-07-23T19:08:00.000-04:00

Crazy 4 Cult is a group exhibit currently running at Gallery 1988 (of I Am 8 Bit fame) in Los Angeles where artists display artwork inspired by their (or somebody’s) favorite cult movie(s). Pretty sweet idea. Here’s the flyer by Chris Lee:

I’m seeing some Weird Science, some Pulp Fiction, a little Rocky Horror Picture Show, a bit o’ Clerks and a whole bunch of other stuff that I’m sure you’ll tell me about. And for those of you who won’t be in the Los Angeles area any time soon (which approximately all of you), here’s a sampling of what you’re not going to see:

“All Together Now” by Jeff McMillan

“The Jesus” by Carlos Ramos

“Ed’s Losing” by Greg Simkins

Via Drawn.

Would You Like Fries With Your Chips?

2007-07-23T18:52:00.000-04:00

OK so looks like I’m a little late to the party on this one. Like, really late. Like, everyone’s-already-passed-out-and-the-sun-is-rising late but I still think this is very important information nonetheless. Almost timeless really. Our friends over at Frito-Lay (and by “friends” I mean I’ve never met them but I’m secretly hoping they’ll send me free chips) came up with a clever marketing campaign/contest called X-13D. Sometime in May 2007 mysterious looking bags of Doritos like this:

Were made available for public consumption (presumably on in the US only). The idea is that people had to name the flavor of the chip and enter their guess online to see if they won. Brilliant. Now that’s all fine and dandy but the real news here is the actual flavor. I’m not entirely convinced that you can handle it but I’m going to tell you anyway:

Cheeseburger! Doritos! Cheeseburger Doritos! This is an important moment in history, dear readers. If anyone out there has managed to get their grubby little fingers on these special chips, please do share your flavor experience with us. I have so many questions! Can you taste all the toppings? Ketchup? Mustard? Pickles? Beef? Lettuce? Sesame bun? Please tell us, in 250 – 300 words, how your life has changed since experiencing this unique flavor amalgamation.

Too far?

Little Miss, Little Miss, Little Miss Can't Be Ugly

2007-07-23T18:40:00.000-04:00

According to his website, Alain Delorme is a French photographer of a new school of artists that use “the computing tool for the ends of mutation and hybridization of bodies.” Man, I gotta get me one them computing tools! His newest series of photographs, Little Dolls, is meant to be a scathing criticism of Western (particularly American) stereotypes of female beauty. The main subjects of Delorme’s criticism seem to be young girls’ beauty pageants and Barbie. So he grabbed a bunch of little girls (well he probably didn’t just grab them off the street or anything like that. I mean, I’m pretty sure he held like auditions and stuff. Don’t go spreading any rumors now), dressed them up, painted their faces all pretty (read: creepy)-like sat them down in front of various baked goods and snapped photos of them which he then proceeded to “mutate” and “hybridize” with his fancy “computing tool”. The result is this:

Which totally reminds me of those terrifying little girls from the beauty pageant in Little Miss Sunshine, non?

CDograph

2007-06-05T21:33:00.000-04:00

This beautiful phonograph-style CD player designed by yong jieyu + ama is such a pleasure to look at that it might just make me stop illegally downloading music and start buying CDs again. Maybe you should buy it for me so we can find out. Also their website makes my head confused but it's pretty neat.

Via Notcot.org.

Theo and the Giant Wind Monsters

2007-06-05T20:57:00.000-04:00

Theo Jansen is a Dutch engineer who, in his spare time, likes to read books, play backgammon and create giant, monster-like kinetic sculptures that stroll down the beaches of Holland propelled by the wind. and wine. He looks like he probably likes wine too. Check out his website Strandbeest for far more information than I can be bothered to summarize for you here. But what I can be bothered to do is post some super awesome pictures because I know most of you don't actually read what I write but just scroll through and look at the pretty pictures.

Now these pictures are nice and dandy but to get the full effect you need to watch the video:

By the way I just made up that stuff about the books and the backgammon. But I'm pretty much sure it's true.

You Get the Point

2007-05-17T22:23:00.000-04:00

The Japanese versions of the PC vs Mac commercials. Ha!

Têtes à Claques

2007-05-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

If you know me then chances are I've already blabbed to you about the Quebecois short video site Têtes à Claques (and probably more than once too cause I'm totally one of those people who never remembers to whom she's told what). And if not then I'm telling you now. The videos feature footage of real mouths and eyes super-imposed over clay dolls to create really creepy looking characters. The creator Michel Beaudet originally intended to make stop-motion animation shorts until he got lazy and realized that all the work was in the eyes and mouth. So instead of moving them frame by frame, he just filmed real ones.

This is some really funny stuff, my friends. Even if you don't speak French. But funnier if you do. And even funnier if you're from Quebec. And funnier still if you went to a French high school with lots of Quebecois teachers.

Thanks Sasha!

Architecture In A City I'm Not From

2007-05-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

So I've been noticing this trend lately of bands naming themselves after cities they're not actually from. I decided the only thing I could do about it was make a map to catalog this information. I mean really, what else could I do?

Come on folks! I made you a gosh darn map! The least you could do is say 'awesome.'

Click for biggity.

I Don't Wanna Wait For My Trapper Keeper To Be Nominated

2007-05-17T20:03:00.000-04:00

Now I know you didn't know that there was such a thing as a Robot Hall of Fame in Pittsburgh, PA. I mean, you may have suspected that such a thing might exist, but you didn't like, know. Well there is. And they're not messing around either. I mean, they've got a jury and inductees and nominations and everything. And they don't hate either. Both fictional and non-fictional robots are welcome. Can you imagine you worked at the Robot Hall of Fame? Just picture that guy. He gets all the chicks. Current inductees include R2-D2, Astro Boy and more recently Data.

Notably absent from the RHoF:

Marvin the Paranoid Android (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
Cartman's Trapper Keeper, which is almost like a robot

Now quick! Go out and cast your vote for Optimus Prime!

Via GeekLikeMe.

They Forgot The Stork

2006-10-29T23:51:00.000-05:00

In case you were still a little unsure about the whole "where babies come from" thing, try this step-by-step German children's book. It charts a baby's progress from the initial meeting of the parents, the missionary position, the gestation period, a ride the the "Klinik" in a lovemobile and a really happy newborn popping out of a uterus. Informative and accurate. Couldn't ask for more.

Thanks Muriel!

Look Up

2006-10-29T15:02:00.000-05:00

David Wiseman is a designer. Apparently his schtick has something to do with incorporating the subtle aesthetics and textures of nature with interior design. Or something. I'm not quite sure. But I am sure that this ceiling is super awesome. And he's kind of hot. So I guess that's good too.

Via NotCot.com.

The Layman's Doppelganger

2006-10-29T14:37:00.000-05:00

Hello out there. Is anyone even still reading this thing? Well just in case you are I thought you'd be interested to know that Canadian photographer François Brunelle has taken it upon himself to take pictures of people and their doppelgangers. He calls the project I'm Not A Look-Alike! The people pictured below are not related, they are simply strangers that have found their pseudotwins. People who want to participate in Brunnelle's project submit their information on his site and he dresses them in identical clothes, makes them touch each other in a slightly uncomfortable way and photographs the result.

Via enRoute Magazine and Farpas & Bitates.

Garden State: Redux

2006-09-19T22:07:00.000-04:00

I liked Garden State. It left me feeling all warm and fuzzy. I'm not ashamed to admit it: I'm glad he got off that plane. I recently saw The Last Kiss and although I liked it, it definitely had a Garden State II feel to it, especially with respect to Natalie Portman and Rachel Bilson's characters. Brian Palmer over at The Not-So-Exciting Life of Brian Palmer has taken it upon himself to break down the similarities between the two movies in this post and I think he nailed it.

The protagonist should close his eyes often and meditate on when his life wasn’t ruled by the debilitating pain of wondering how to connect with other people, or whether he should get married and have kids.

LOL! Do people even still say "LOL" anymore?

Via Notcot.org.

But Is It Edible?

2006-09-19T21:26:00.000-04:00

OK now I don't know Brent or Annette but I do know that they're cool. How do I know? Look at their wedding cake. I wonder if it was mushroom flavoured.

Via BoingBoing.

Holy Shit!

2006-09-19T21:03:00.000-04:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, I haven't posted in, like, forever. Yeah I've read all your hate mail. Yeah I've gotten your crank calls. But see I started this new job (one that actually pays me, unlike, you know, this blog) and I suddenly find myself with a lot less free time to sleep/eat/blog. So I'm going to try to post when I can, but as you can see the frequency will be significantly diminished. Maybe that's a good thing for you. Maybe you'll do something else instead of checking my blog incessantly. Like go outside. Read a book. Call a friend. Or not. Anyway to appease you all I've posted a picture of a cute puppy:

See you're not mad at me anymore, right? I knew you'd understand.

YouBroken

2006-08-15T18:38:00.000-04:00

Look, YouTube has a sense of humour.

Again.

Hell Ya!

2006-08-12T10:33:00.000-04:00

Check out this folk cover of OutKast's Hey Ya by Mat Webble from the Scottsdale, Arizona band Obadiah Parker. I still can't believe how good it sounds.

Via Fosfor.

If I Were An M&M

2006-08-11T21:44:00.000-04:00

The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney is currently running Adventures with Form in Space, an exhibition that "considers the inventive ways in which contemporary artists use form, colour and space in sculpture. The works in the exhibition are essentially abstract and yet are richly imaginitive." One of the installations in the exhibit is Atomix - Full of Love, Full of Wonder, a sculpture - and I use the word lightly - by Nike Savvas that features over 50,000 polystyrene multi-coloured balls vibrating and suspended in air. How much you want to bet this chick was stoned when she came up with that idea? The whole thing probably went down like this: "OK OK OK, but what would it be like to actually be an M&M? Like, imagine being inside that bag with all these other M&Ms just hanging out. Whoa...mmmm M&Ms..." I wonder if they have a "May induce seizures" sign outside the exhibit. Click here for more pictures.

Via Farpas & Bitaites.

All Your Base Are Belong To Engrish

2006-08-05T15:13:00.000-04:00

Not sure why I never explored the origin of "All your base are belong to us." I suppose most of you smart asses already have. But for those of you that haven't, I'll just go ahead and tell you that it's a line from the opening scene of the poorly translated Japanese video game Zero Wing. Watch the video here. I'm surprised no one has copyrighted it yet. And now you know.

Thanks Tom!

LEGO My Shadow

2006-08-04T09:12:00.000-04:00

Some sweet LEGO ads for you on this fine Friday morning. Clean, simple, clever, brilliant. You're welcome.

Via Notcot.org.

Wackipedia

2006-08-02T09:05:00.000-04:00

It seems that Wikipedia has been taking some harsh criticism in the last little while with respect to its accuracy and its editing policies. This bad press has been going on for some time now but lately (ie: today), I've come across a butt load of references (ie: three) to how easy it is for anyone to pass anything they want as fact. The recent criticism seems to have started with this Op-Ed piece by John Seigenthaler that appeared in USA Today where he's says that the entry for his name in Wikipedia mentions that he may have, you know, offed both John and Bobby Kennedy. And apparently he wasn't happy about that. Stephen Colbert also got in on the action in a recent episode of The Colbert Report where he discussed what he calls Wikiality: "the representation of truth on Wikipedia that is determined by consensus rather than fact." Colbert urged viewers to edit the Wikipedia entry on elephants to say that their population had tripled in the last six months - which of course a whole bunch of people did thus causing the article to be locked "because of recent vandalism or other disruption."

And lastly, the people over at Penny Arcade threw in their two cents with this comic. By the power of Greyskull! (click picture for biggerness)

Colbert info via GeekLikeMe and thanks to Adam (via Sasha) for the Penny Arcade comic.

For Gullible Babies Only

2006-08-01T20:40:00.000-04:00

Straight from the text book for Bad Parenting 101 comes the Zaky Infant Pillow. Why hold your baby yourself when you can buy creepy plush muppet arms to do it for you? According to the Pregnancy Store, "The Zaky is an ergonomic infant pillow designed by a mom to mimic the size, weight, touch, and feel of her hand and forearm to help her baby with comfort, support, protection, and development." Or instead of designing such a pillow, said mom could try actually holding her own child! I don't know, am I being too harsh? I mean it's not like I'm a mother so what do I know, right? But come on, look how unsettling that picture is: disemboddied hand stumps? I think it was the tag line that did it for me: It's Like Leaving a Part of You with Your Baby. Ew.

Via Random Good Stuff.

Pick Your Poison

2006-08-01T20:33:00.000-04:00

Everything you always wanted to know about how drugs affect your brain, but were too lazy to ask. From the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah comes Mouse Party, a clever, interactive flash animation that gives you the low down on the different ways you can fry your brain (or a mouse's brain) with drugs. All your favorites are there: Cocaine! Marijuana! Heroin! Ecstacy! Methamphetamines! Come on in and pick your poison!

Via Farpas & Bitaites.

Cute!...Not!

2006-08-01T20:10:00.000-04:00

Meghan Murphy's webcomic Kawaii Not is pretty to look at and fun to read. Mostly cause there aren't too many words. Kind of like my blog. Kawaii means "cute" in Japanese and Not means "not" in English. Get it?

Via The In-Sect.

Sweet Glass Creations

2006-08-01T19:12:00.000-04:00

One of my co-workers came in today wearing a super cool necklace with a glass robot pendant so naturally I was all: "OMG! That's soooo cute! Where did you get it?" and she was all "I know, don't you love it? My boyfriend totally got it for me cause I love robots, lemme look it up on the internet!" And a couple of seconds later I was looking at Toronto designer Izik Levy's sweet glass creations including the robots (apparently robots can either be happy or pretty pissed off looking), sock monkeys (but they're made of glass, so I don't know if they can technically be called sock monkeys) and these totally sweet-looking yet very impractical blossom pendants. Izik's creations can be purchased at various oh-so-look-at-me-I'm-hip locations in Toronto or via e-mail if that's too far for you to travel for a glass sock monkey.

Thanks to Amy for coming to work with that super sweet necklace. And to her boyfriend for buying it for her.

U2 Opened For Me Last Night

2006-08-01T18:58:00.000-04:00

Look! Now you can make your own concert ticket! Just like you've always wanted to! Hurrah! Exclamation point!